No, no ... the green one!

Remember this scene?

In the 1995 BBC/A&E version of Pride and Prejudice with Colin Firth, there is a scene where Darcy, while being assisted by his servant, is getting dressed to go see Elizabeth at the Inn in Lambton. The servant is holding up various coats, but Darcy insists, "No, no, the green one." 

We really like that scene in the movie (sorry, couldn't find the exact picture of it anywhere), because Darcy shows he's excited to see Elizabeth, but turns out he gets there just after she has received some bad news from home.

 

Interestingly, he seems to have on the same green coat in an earlier scene when he goes back out to see Elizabeth on the grounds of Pemberley, before she has a chance to leave. He's very keen on looking good then too, and that green coat was the perfect choice. Perhaps it was his favorite color ... or favorite coat!

It was for this reason that I wanted to have him wearing a green coat on the cover of my book, Mr Darcy falls in love. But as you can see, our cover has Darcy wearing a purple coat with blue collar instead. Why not the green one, you ask? Well, as you can see, there is already a great deal of green in the grass and trees. I felt putting a green coat on Mr. Darcy would not make him stand out as he should. Of course, that meant I had to pick another color, and giving it some thought, I settled on purple to convey the idea of his wealth. I realize this is a bit cliche, but it was my second choice.

Therefore, if you are a real P&P aficionado, I hope 'you will acquit me of cruelty' in regard to the cover design of Mr Darcy falls in love for that purple coat, but please do give me some little credit for getting Pemberley in the background!

Here's a first sketch of Mr D in his green coat:

The one we chose for the cover is much better:

Juan scroll art

One of Noe's many skills

You know I love to brag about my Noe...
We got our scroll saw machine working again, so he got to work on doing some pieces we've been wanting to do. We may make these available for purchase for those that are interested.

Of course, this is The Juan, our famous detective!

You can read about him in our book :-)
See the Amazon link on the sidebar →

This is just the very beginning of this piece.
It hasn't been sanded or stained or anything.
Each piece of wood has its own character.
The line in the middle is just a part of this particular wood, and we'll see how it looks as Noe does the color staining later. Just thought I'd post the process as he goes along.

  

Let us know what you think!

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Pride and Prejudice movie characters, part 4

Continuing our discussion of the other characters

Uncle and Aunt Gardiner

The Gardiners, like Georgiana, are an integral part of the Pride and Prejudice story. Just consider: Lizzy is traveling with them on their Northern tour for three weeks, which leads to her and Darcy being thrown together again while they are visiting Pemberley. Later on, it is Aunt Gardiner who gives Lizzy the full account of Darcy’s involvement in finding Lydia and Wickham, which, as we know, moves her to thank Darcy for what he did for her sister, which then leads him to propose again! It is a pity that more of the movie adaptations don’t allow for these two characters from the book to have more screen time.

But when I think of Uncle and Aunt Gardiner in the P&P movies, only one couple comes to mind, and that is Tim Wylton and Joanna David from the 1995 BBC version. For one thing, Tim looks like an uncle -- friendly face and manners. Then Joanna is “hip enough” (if it is alright to use that word for something that takes place in the 1800s). Her facial expressions often tell you what she's thinking. You can clearly see why he and she would be the favorite relatives of the Bennet girls.

I love the scene with Mr. Gardiner and Darcy talking about who pays to have Wickham marry Lydia. This is a very short scene, but it is so striking to see a matter of such importance being settled by two gentlemen, with a handshake that is coupled with trust and respect. To me, it highlights how vastly superior Uncle Gardiner is to his sister, Mrs. Bennet, which is why Elizabeth is glad that Darcy gets to meet him on their visit to Pemberley. Though the other actors do a creditable job with the part (that is to say, in the other versions that have them make it on the screen), hands down there is no other Uncle and Aunt Gardiner for me.